Edgar Barrientos Quintana left a Minnesota prison a free man last week, 16 years after being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.
Barrientos Quintana was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2008 drive-by shooting killing of Jesse Mickelson in Minneapolis.
However, he met a checkered fate earlier this year, when the state’s conviction review unit took another look at his case and determined that the jury in his trial did not hear key evidence supporting his innocence.
He told reporters Tuesday that he never gave up hope for justice, though he was never sure when he would get his freedom.
“I didn’t know when, and that’s the problem. You know it’s going to happen, but The system is very slowHe said at a news conference, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Happy to be here. It’s been a great week and more to come.”
According to CNN, a review of the conviction in August resulted in a damning report Several errors in the case against the 41-year-old father of two.
State Court Judge John McBride overturned Barrientos Quintana’s conviction and ordered his release last week. McBride concluded that Barrientos Quintana was not given a fair trial because his attorneys did not effectively represent him and prosecutors did not uncover any exculpatory evidence.
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“Nothing can bring back Mr. Barrientos Quintana those past 16 years, and for that we are deeply sorry,” Hennepin County Prosecutor Mary Moriarty said during a news conference Tuesday. “When a criminal system does not operate ethically, it causes great harm.”
At the news conference, Moriarty said investigators used forced lineup and interrogation tactics, which led to unreliable eyewitness identifications.
Security footage captured Barrientos-Quintana at a grocery store shortly before the shooting, and the district attorney’s office pointed to phone records not presented at trial that placed him at his girlfriend’s suburban apartment shortly after the shooting. The Conviction Review Unit determined that he could not have traveled to and from the crime scene at the time.
Auditors also blamed police, who showed an old photo of Barrientos-Quintana with a shaved head to witnesses who described the suspect as bald. Security footage showed that Barrientos Quintana had short, dark hair at the time of the shooting.
His release comes 11 years after his current lawyer and former director of the court Great Northern Patent ProjectJulie Jonas started Work on his case.
He lost his freedom and his family lost a son, a father, a brother, an uncle and a nephew. “It was a tragedy,” Jonas said in a statement obtained by CNN.
“But watching Edgar reunited with more than 22 family members as he left prison, with other prisoners cheering him on in the background, was a truly happy moment for all of us.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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